So I wasn't sure if I would do anything about this, but I decided I will...
I received an anonymous comment on my last entry. I promptly deleted it, not because it was embarrassing or rude (if this were the case, I wouldn't be quoting it here), but rather because I didn't want a string of comments about that comment where I would prefer the comments for that post to about that post.
Here then is the comment in question:
"You suck at blogging! Much ado about nothing!
Please stop thinking aloud! Keep the boring thoughts to yourself!"
First let me just say that I appreciate the comparison to Shakespeare! And if "You suck at blogging" is anything like "You Suck At Photoshop" (check it out on YouTube, very funny stuff), then again, I'm flattered.
Without being too combative, I must admit that posting a comment that says, "Please stop thinking aloud! Keep the boring thoughts to yourself!" could also be quite self-referential. Aside from this, it's also fair to point out that I have never been one to promote my blog to the general public. As such, I suppose I have been keeping my thoughts to myself, but thanks for supporting my current actions.
I guess what I'm really getting at here is:
a) This doesn't really bother me, but I do like having fun with such comments; and
b) I find it interesting that people hide behind the mask of anonymity in order to keep from being revealed as hypocritical.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Winners and losers
Wow, the spirit of competition is alive and well in my world right now. And by "my world" I mean the stuff I watch on TV!
NHL Playoffs:
The playoffs are nearing an end, as the final round begins today. I'm hoping Detroit (I can't believe I'm actually saying this) wins the Stanley Cup this year. I'm no Detroit Red Wings fan, by any stretch of the imagination, but I also don't want to see Pittsburgh win the Cup. There's far too much hype around Sidney Crosby, and if nothing else, I don't want them to win because he should not be wearing the 'C' on his jersey! The only player on that team who should have even been considered for the role of Captain is Gary Roberts! He's payed his dues more than anyone else there. Besides this, if Pittsburgh wins, there will suddenly be this (temporary, I'm sure) resurgence of support for the Penguins, and they won't be able to relocate to Canada, where they should be! But anyway, that's my rant for the day. Onto other competition...
American Idol:
The "Battle of the Davids" concluded this week. Let's face it, we all knew these would be the final two before the top 12. This season of Idol was the only American one I've ever watched from beginning to end. I've seen a few odd episodes of previous seasons, and I watched one full season of Canadian Idol (BTW, Theresa Sokyrka was way better than Kalan Porter!), but I've never seen quite as much talent as I saw during this entire season. Michael Johns was the one that got me hooked when he sang Bohemian Rhapsody during the top 100. There were even people who didn't make the top 24 that I would've loved to hear more of. That said, there was certainly no shortage of questionable singers that made it quite far. Oh well. On to the roundup.
The top 5, I would easily buy albums from any of these 5. They all have very unique styles. They all have amazing vocal ability. They all are entertaining in their own way. But... The choice came down to two things: vocal ability vs. performance ability. I've heard a few people complaining that the American public got it wrong, that Archuleta was the superior singer, and that Cook's vocal abilities were weak in comparison. I agree, sort of. Archuleta was indeed the better vocalist; I don't think anyone can really argue against this. However, Cook brought so much more to the stage. Cook was a performance artist, and an excellent one at that. He came out on the stage with confidence, did his thing, was grateful for any praise and/or criticism, and was still confident and ready to roll again at a moment's notice. Archuleta, on the other hand, was bashful to a fault as soon as the song was done. He didn't know how to handle the adoration or the criticism. And worst of all, he came out and sang the same song every week! Okay, not literally the same song, but if you saw the performances, you know what I mean. He just didn't display the versatility that Cook did. The fact is that over 50 million people voted for Cook, who won by over 12 million votes. I don't believe the final night of voting was his best night, but the voters obviously chose who they thought was better over all. If you have any doubt about Cook's validity as a star, just look back at some of his performances (you can find them on YouTube), such as Hello, or Billie Jean.
UFC:
Speaking of one-on-one battles, there have been some amazing UFC fights lately! From the success of local Jason Day (from Ft. Macleod, fighting out of Lethbridge), who won his UFC debut in UFC 83, to the return of GSP (Georges St. Pierre) to undisputed champion status after defeating Matt Serra at the same event in Montreal last month. Tonight UFC 84 takes place with a great, though not quite as great, card lined up. I'm excited to see Sherk beat Penn, but even more excited to watch Ortiz lose what could be his last ever fight in the UFC. I'm also hoping Silva can beat Jardine.
Over the last couple years I've been growing more and more into a fan of MMA in general, especially UFC. As I learn more about the sport, I find myself being able to analyze the moves of the fighters, the strategy involved, and the shear talent that some of them possess. MMA is certainly the best of all the combat sports, and makes boxing look like a game for kids. I might even be willing to say that I'm probably now a bigger MMA fan than I am a hockey fan. And that's saying a lot! I totally understand how it's not something that everyone would be interested in, since on the surface it appears either barbaric (there can sometimes be a lot of blood) or boring (the ground game isn't too exciting unless you know what to look for). That said, for anyone willing to get through the surface and see what's really happening, it really is an amazing sport with some of the best athletes I've ever seen.
So that's it. Throw in some NBA finals (which I've not really been following), the WHL playoffs (Lethbridge Hurricanes only lost to the team that will likely be the Memorial Cups winners before the weekend is through), and the baseball season starting up (snore-fest for the first half of the season, as always), and there's certainly no shortage of competition to talk about. Oh, and let's not forget So You Think You Can Dance! (Actually, can we please forget it?) I'm looking forward to seeing if this coming season of Canadian Idol is going to be any good.
Wow, 2 blog posts this week! I wonder if I can keep this up.
NHL Playoffs:
The playoffs are nearing an end, as the final round begins today. I'm hoping Detroit (I can't believe I'm actually saying this) wins the Stanley Cup this year. I'm no Detroit Red Wings fan, by any stretch of the imagination, but I also don't want to see Pittsburgh win the Cup. There's far too much hype around Sidney Crosby, and if nothing else, I don't want them to win because he should not be wearing the 'C' on his jersey! The only player on that team who should have even been considered for the role of Captain is Gary Roberts! He's payed his dues more than anyone else there. Besides this, if Pittsburgh wins, there will suddenly be this (temporary, I'm sure) resurgence of support for the Penguins, and they won't be able to relocate to Canada, where they should be! But anyway, that's my rant for the day. Onto other competition...
American Idol:
The "Battle of the Davids" concluded this week. Let's face it, we all knew these would be the final two before the top 12. This season of Idol was the only American one I've ever watched from beginning to end. I've seen a few odd episodes of previous seasons, and I watched one full season of Canadian Idol (BTW, Theresa Sokyrka was way better than Kalan Porter!), but I've never seen quite as much talent as I saw during this entire season. Michael Johns was the one that got me hooked when he sang Bohemian Rhapsody during the top 100. There were even people who didn't make the top 24 that I would've loved to hear more of. That said, there was certainly no shortage of questionable singers that made it quite far. Oh well. On to the roundup.
The top 5, I would easily buy albums from any of these 5. They all have very unique styles. They all have amazing vocal ability. They all are entertaining in their own way. But... The choice came down to two things: vocal ability vs. performance ability. I've heard a few people complaining that the American public got it wrong, that Archuleta was the superior singer, and that Cook's vocal abilities were weak in comparison. I agree, sort of. Archuleta was indeed the better vocalist; I don't think anyone can really argue against this. However, Cook brought so much more to the stage. Cook was a performance artist, and an excellent one at that. He came out on the stage with confidence, did his thing, was grateful for any praise and/or criticism, and was still confident and ready to roll again at a moment's notice. Archuleta, on the other hand, was bashful to a fault as soon as the song was done. He didn't know how to handle the adoration or the criticism. And worst of all, he came out and sang the same song every week! Okay, not literally the same song, but if you saw the performances, you know what I mean. He just didn't display the versatility that Cook did. The fact is that over 50 million people voted for Cook, who won by over 12 million votes. I don't believe the final night of voting was his best night, but the voters obviously chose who they thought was better over all. If you have any doubt about Cook's validity as a star, just look back at some of his performances (you can find them on YouTube), such as Hello, or Billie Jean.
UFC:
Speaking of one-on-one battles, there have been some amazing UFC fights lately! From the success of local Jason Day (from Ft. Macleod, fighting out of Lethbridge), who won his UFC debut in UFC 83, to the return of GSP (Georges St. Pierre) to undisputed champion status after defeating Matt Serra at the same event in Montreal last month. Tonight UFC 84 takes place with a great, though not quite as great, card lined up. I'm excited to see Sherk beat Penn, but even more excited to watch Ortiz lose what could be his last ever fight in the UFC. I'm also hoping Silva can beat Jardine.
Over the last couple years I've been growing more and more into a fan of MMA in general, especially UFC. As I learn more about the sport, I find myself being able to analyze the moves of the fighters, the strategy involved, and the shear talent that some of them possess. MMA is certainly the best of all the combat sports, and makes boxing look like a game for kids. I might even be willing to say that I'm probably now a bigger MMA fan than I am a hockey fan. And that's saying a lot! I totally understand how it's not something that everyone would be interested in, since on the surface it appears either barbaric (there can sometimes be a lot of blood) or boring (the ground game isn't too exciting unless you know what to look for). That said, for anyone willing to get through the surface and see what's really happening, it really is an amazing sport with some of the best athletes I've ever seen.
So that's it. Throw in some NBA finals (which I've not really been following), the WHL playoffs (Lethbridge Hurricanes only lost to the team that will likely be the Memorial Cups winners before the weekend is through), and the baseball season starting up (snore-fest for the first half of the season, as always), and there's certainly no shortage of competition to talk about. Oh, and let's not forget So You Think You Can Dance! (Actually, can we please forget it?) I'm looking forward to seeing if this coming season of Canadian Idol is going to be any good.
Wow, 2 blog posts this week! I wonder if I can keep this up.
Friday, May 23, 2008
At last (or alas), I return!!!
I probably shouldn't be sitting here blogging while at work, especially since I've got tons to do today, but what's done is done (or will be by the time I click the "Publish Post" button).
Last night I discovered Google Reader. I've added 8 feeds so far. I've been catching up on some blogs, and now I finally feel re-motivated to post again. Mind you, this post is pretty much just self-referential, so we'll have to see how things develop in the future. Wish me luck!!!
Last night I discovered Google Reader. I've added 8 feeds so far. I've been catching up on some blogs, and now I finally feel re-motivated to post again. Mind you, this post is pretty much just self-referential, so we'll have to see how things develop in the future. Wish me luck!!!
Friday, August 3, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
New internet service...
Ok, so it's been a LONG time since I updated this, I know. Sorry. Anyway, rather than catch everyone up on the past few months, I'll just start from now. So last week we had a couple of power outages within a few hours. After the second one, my ADSL modem stopped connecting with Telus' internet service. It would take them about 5 days to send someone to check it out. So, I set up an appointment, and go to work. Then I get to thinking, I've been wanting to switch to shaw for a while anyway. So the following evening, I call Shaw to set up installation. They were very helpful, and though I called them about 36 hours after I called Telus, they were able to make the appointment for only 24 hours after Telus could. So then I call Telus to cancel the appointment and try to cancel my service. Well, the guy (who hardly speaks English, and made me repeat myself about 5 times for everything I said so he knew what I was saying) tells me that he's cancelled the appointment, but that he can't cancel my service. I have to talk to "sales and retention" so he transfers me, but they're not open so I go back to him, though it takes him a while to realise this, and I'm sitting there listening to background mumbling for a good 2 minutes before he clues in that I'm on the line with him. He says that they're close 'till Monday morning (this was Friday evening) so I ask him to talk to a supervisor, he says they're all in meetings for the next three hours. After countless times on hold and him thanking me for "patiently waiting" every time he returned, he finally patched me through to customer service (instead of tech, which he was, since I wanted to cancel my tech appointment). Customer service tells me that sales and retention are open the following morning. This is somewhat acceptable (though I'm not sure what 24 hr service means if they can't access the entire system 24 hrs a day). Finally I call back the next morning, and I'm able to get them to cancel my service. (Like there was ANY chance I was going to change my mind after what I'd gone through the previous night.)
So yesterday, the guy from Shaw comes over. At no charge he finds a way to get a cable connection up to the computer room, checks the connection, but sees that it's quite weak. So he goes and gets a signal booster from his van, hooks it up, and now it's nice and strong. We go to the computer to check the bandwidth now. From Telus I was getting around 500Kbps down, and probably around 100Kbps up. Immediately I'm now getting 5000Kbps down (yes 10X what I had) and about 500Kbps up. Then he calls in to the office to activate the "eXtreme" connection (which I pay $10 more a month for), and within about 2 minutes my connection speed doubles. The link included (click on the title of this post) will take you to an image of the results of a test I did today, to make sure I'm still getting the same type of connection. The slight drop is caused by the fact that I now have it going through a router. Still, quite impressive for those who are tech savvy enough to know what any of this means.
So yesterday, the guy from Shaw comes over. At no charge he finds a way to get a cable connection up to the computer room, checks the connection, but sees that it's quite weak. So he goes and gets a signal booster from his van, hooks it up, and now it's nice and strong. We go to the computer to check the bandwidth now. From Telus I was getting around 500Kbps down, and probably around 100Kbps up. Immediately I'm now getting 5000Kbps down (yes 10X what I had) and about 500Kbps up. Then he calls in to the office to activate the "eXtreme" connection (which I pay $10 more a month for), and within about 2 minutes my connection speed doubles. The link included (click on the title of this post) will take you to an image of the results of a test I did today, to make sure I'm still getting the same type of connection. The slight drop is caused by the fact that I now have it going through a router. Still, quite impressive for those who are tech savvy enough to know what any of this means.
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